The road to a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Wall Street is reaching its final milestones, with the latest updates indicating a potential trading debut on Jan. 11. Let’s explore the key steps leading up to this significant event. Jan. 8 Deadline for Asset Managers’ Final Amendments In the race toward regulatory approval, asset managers are diligently working on the last round of revisions, with the deadline set for Jan. 8. As Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas notes, these amendments are crucial and will be submitted through S-1 filings by 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time, disclosing essential details such as remaining fees and tickers. Notably, some heavyweights like BlackRock are yet to unveil the associated fees for their ETF.   Submission of 19-b Forms by Crypto Fund Exchanges On Jan. 5, participating exchanges submitted their 19-b forms, marking a pivotal step in the overall process. These forms, coupled with the S-1 filings, serve as the final documentation before the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delivers its verdict.   SEC Decision-Making Process The decision-making process at the SEC might involve a vote by the commissioners. While the SEC’s public agenda does not show any scheduled events before Jan. 11, when the market anticipates the ETFs’ debut, Balchunas suggests that the SEC could leverage its delegated authority policy. This means a potential approval without a formal vote, a scenario Balchunas deems plausible.   Predictions for Approval Balchunas predicts a favorable outcome for most applicants next week, especially for those meeting the regulator’s requirements before the Dec. 29 deadline. Notably, he highlights that Grayscale, seeking the conversion of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a listed BTC ETF, might receive its decision shortly after the initial approval.   Addressing Concerns and Criticisms Recent criticism, such as Better Markets’ letter dubbing ETF approval a “historic mistake,” is viewed by Balchunas as the final resistance of crypto skeptics. He points out that these critics overlook the current accessibility of crypto, emphasizing that ETFs are not introducing crypto for the first time but rather expanding its reach. Balchunas dismisses such critiques as the last efforts of crypto detractors to voice their disapproval. As the SEC navigates the final stages of the Bitcoin ETF approval process, the crypto community eagerly awaits the potential launch, anticipating a significant shift in the landscape of cryptocurrency investment. Stay tuned for updates on this historic development. Source: Cointelegraph.com

Introduction: The onset of 2024 brought unexpected turbulence in the cryptocurrency market, marked by the first major crash on January 3. With approximately $600 million in liquidations, this plunge was predominantly instigated by Matrixport’s research hinting at a potential rejection of Bitcoin ETFs. Let’s delve into the details of this significant market event and explore what lies ahead. The Matrixport Influence: Matrixport’s blog post, titled “Why the SEC will reject all Bitcoin spot ETFs,” authored by Markus Thielen, the Head of Research at Matrixport, played a pivotal role in triggering the crypto market downturn.  The post highlighted a crucial requirement missing in the filed ETFs, indicating a probable delay in SEC approval until the second quarter of 2024. The research also pointed out the dominance of Democrats in the current SEC leadership, expressing skepticism about Chair Gensler’s favorable stance towards crypto approval.   Anticipated Market Impact: Matrixport’s research suggested a potential wipeout of $5.1 billion in longs, resulting from the expected ETF approval delay. The theoretical consequence of this move could lead to a 20% drop in Bitcoin prices, ranging from $36,000 to $38,000.   Immediate Aftermath of the Crypto Crash: The crypto market witnessed a rapid decline in Bitcoin prices from $45,308 to $41,454, representing an 8.51% drop. Coinglass data revealed liquidations amounting to nearly $600 million, accompanied by a slump in total open interest from $18.66 billion to $17.72 billion.   Impact on Leverage: The estimated leverage ratio, calculated as the exchange’s open interest divided by their coin reserve, plummeted from a peak of 0.23 to 0.17. This 50% reduction in leverage suggests a decrease in risk and implies a potential formation of a market bottom.   Speculations on Future Market Trends: The 365-day Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) ratio currently stands at 33.15%, indicating that a third of investors who purchased BTC over the past year are in profit. Potential profit-taking by these investors might catalyze another market crash. Matrixport’s forecast of an SEC rejection until Q2 2024 raises concerns, suggesting a scenario where BTC could revisit the $30,000 level and potentially bottom out around $24,800.   Conclusion: As the crypto market navigates through the aftermath of the first crash in 2024, the interplay of Matrixport’s insights and market dynamics becomes crucial. Investors remain on high alert, awaiting further developments and potential impacts on Bitcoin prices as the crypto landscape continues to evolve. Source: Cryptonews.net  

In today’s tumultuous market selloff, memecoins faced a substantial setback, witnessing an almost double-digit drop in market capitalization compared to the broader market. Earlier reports from Matrixport hinting at the SEC’s potential rejection of Bitcoin ETF applications triggered a swift and significant liquidation across the cryptocurrency market. In a mere four hours, the market experienced a staggering loss of over $540 million, with Bitcoin and Ethereum witnessing nearly a 10% dip. However, the meme coin sector bore the brunt of this liquidation, with all significant meme tokens suffering losses exceeding 10% on the day. Bonk, the latest sensation in the meme coin realm, incurred a substantial 16% loss, plummeting 66% from its all-time high achieved less than three weeks ago. Among the top meme tokens, Dogecoin experienced a particularly harsh decline, dropping from $0.090 to $0.0819 in just 15 minutes. Although the leading meme coin made a modest recovery after that, the impact was notable. Shiba Inu also faced a dip of over 10% during the day, yet its significant December rally left it nearly 8% higher over the past 30 days. While the overall cryptocurrency market cap witnessed a 4.9% decline today, the meme coin market cap took a more substantial hit, falling by almost 11.5%—more than double the average drop. As speculations surrounding the potential approval of Bitcoin ETFs continue to circulate, the intriguing question remains: how significantly will it impact the volatile meme coin market? Stay tuned for insights into the evolving crypto landscape. Source: Crypto.News

Explore the 2024 potential of new cryptos to observe and uncover records that could boom in this upcoming bull run. Bitcoin (BTC) is up over 150% in the past 12 months. According to BlackRock, industry-wide anticipation of a spot Bitcoin ETF and trillions of dollars in sidelined investor capital have added to an exciting bull cycle thesis for 2024’s crypto market. The total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (defi) also grew, increasing from around $38 billion at the start of 2023 to over $54 billion as the year drew close. Despite this leap, defi’s TVL is still several levels below its 2021 peak, recorded north of $179 billion per DefiLlama. This means new cryptocurrencies launched in 2024 could benefit from significant liquidity and attention as retail and institutional investors flock back into digital asset markets. The resurgence in blockchain activity also indicates new cryptos gearing up to enter the market, joining over 9,000 existing virtual currencies. This article will look at three new cryptocurrencies to watch and three narratives potentially garnering steam amid growing excitement around cryptocurrencies. We picked these projects as they have already established communities, raised millions in funding from reputable venture capitals (VCs), attracted thousands to millions of followers, and most have confirmed their 2024 token launch plans.   LayerZero (ZRO) Launched in September 2021 by LayerZero Labs, LayerZero is a cross-chain messaging protocol that allows developers to build applications that work across multiple decentralized networks. This fosters improved liquidity and utility for users. Several protocols are built on LayerZero’s technology, including Stargate Finance and Radiant Capital, which boast a combined TVL of over $600 million. LayerZero has also raised around $250 million in several funding rounds and is now at a $3 billion market valuation, fueling community optimism about a token launch and rewards for early adopters. This can often translate into demand for newly launched cryptocurrencies. The Vancouver-based omni-chain protocol announced plans to launch its ZRO token in H1 2024. An airdrop is included in the rollout strategy, as LayerZero is backed by some of the biggest crypto-centric investment firms like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Circle Ventures, OKX Ventures, and Sequoia. Additionally, being a first-mover in the space could give LayerZero an edge over other projects and new crypto coins emerging in the cross-chain messaging ecosystem.   zkSync Era zkSync is an Ethereum-based scaling solution built on zero-knowledge technology. The blockchain infrastructure, commonly called rollups, executes transactions off Ethereum’s (ETH) mainnet to ease network congestion and offer cheaper gas fees.  This particular layer-2 network was launched in February 2023 by Matter Labs, which has raised $458 million. $200 million out of that raise is earmarked for zkSync adoption. While the project has not officially announced when its token might be listed, a price page on CoinMarketCap added to speculation of an upcoming launch. zkSync’s over $500 million TVL and funding positions the L2 network as one of the major new cryptocurrencies that could debut in 2024. The protocol also commands a 3.3% market share among L2s, behind only Coinbase’s Base, Optimism, and Arbitrum per l2beat.   StarkNet (STRK) Another new digital currency to watch out for is StarkNet’s STRK coin, which already has a token contract deployed on Ethereum’s blockchain. Israeli-based blockchain firm StarkWare Industries launched the layer-2 network in February 2022 and has since attracted $36.85 million in TVL.  StarkNet announced an extensive token distribution program and incentives to push adoption in December. This confirmed the network’s intention to launch a native token, an event expected by April 2024.  Furthermore, StarkNet’s plan to disburse over 1.8 million STRK coins could incentivize interest in the token, possibly earning it a place as a new listing coin on tier 1 exchanges. Hot narratives for new cryptos to watch While the above three tokens fall under the L2 category, typically attracting hundreds of millions in trading volume after launching new cryptocurrencies, new crypto coins will likely emerge in a basket of sectors, giving buyers and investors opportunities to select from.  Identifying narratives during market cycles is crucial to optimizing capital and securing gains. Here are three reports you should be looking at to find new crypto projects.   Real World assets (RWAs) RWAs exist by adding digital versions of traditional financial instruments like real estate onto a blockchain network. The process is called tokenization and is regarded as one of the primary cases of crypto technology use.  This industry has also grown in recent months, climbing over a $2 billion market cap, per Coingecko.   Crypto AI The intersection between cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence has morphed into a $9 billion digital asset ecosystem poised to experience more growth due to increasing chatter around AI and blockchain assets. The top five crypto AI tokens have rallied over 500% each throughout 2023, touting this category as a prime location to find new cryptos to watch.    Gaming The global blockchain gaming scene is on the uptrend, with the market size expected to reach $614 billion by 2030. Web3 users also believe that 20% of games, in general, would adopt blockchain in some capacity, a move that could pull billions in investments into gamefi.  Coingecko placed the total gamefi market cap at $18 billion, which leaves exponential growth and room for new cryptocurrencies should the blockchain gaming industry meet expectations.   Helpful tools Investors may often need help finding new crypto coins early or determining which new crypto has the most potential since the digital asset landscape is fast-paced by nature. However, there are dedicated platforms where users can research tokens and find and use coin data and metrics. Some of these tools include Coingecko, CoinMarketCap, Dextools, Dexscreener, DefiLlama, Dune Analytics, Etherscan, and TradingView. Most of these platforms are free to use, while others offer paid versions with additional features to aid users in finding new cryptos to watch and what new crypto could explode in 2024.    Conclusion Opportunities are likely to abound as bullish sentiment floods crypto markets and retail investors once again deploy capital to risk

The anticipation surrounding the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may lead to initial disappointment among investors, with estimates suggesting only around $100 million in net inflows upon launch, primarily from institutional investors. However, VanEck adviser Gabor Gurbacs urges a broader perspective, emphasizing the long-term impact that these ETFs could have on the cryptocurrency sector. Gurbacs draws parallels with the launch of gold ETFs in 2004, highlighting the eight-year period that saw the price of gold quadruple from $400 to $1,800. During this time, the total market cap of gold surged from $2 trillion to $10 trillion. Currently, Bitcoin’s market cap stands at $834 billion, approximately 41% of gold’s market capitalization in 2004. Anticipating the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States, Gurbacs envisions Bitcoin’s price trajectory mirroring that of gold, albeit at a much faster pace due to Bitcoin’s capped supply and scarcity-increasing events like halving. In addition to potential price appreciation, Gurbacs underscores the crucial role a spot Bitcoin ETF plays in legitimizing and destigmatizing Bitcoin for institutional investors and nation-states. This shift in perception could pave the way for significant inflows into the cryptocurrency sector over time. Bloomberg ETF analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart echo Gurbacs’ sentiments, emphasizing the need to look beyond short-term data points. While some anticipate an immediate uptick in Bitcoin’s price upon ETF approval, others caution against a “sell the news” scenario. Bitcoin’s current price of $42,525 reflects a 1.1% increase in the last 24 hours. As the market speculates on the potential outcomes, the long-term impact of a Bitcoin ETF approval remains a focal point for investors and analysts alike. Stay informed as we navigate the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency investments. Source: Cointelegraph.com

Discover the latest developments in Ethereum as co-founder Vitalik Buterin reveals the updated 2024 roadmap, shedding light on the key priorities steering the blockchain’s evolution. The roadmap includes strategic focuses such as “The Merge,” emphasizing a robust proof-of-stake consensus. Another crucial aspect is “The Surge,” which aims to achieve 100,000 transactions per second across Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks. To address risks related to MEV and liquid pooling, Ethereum introduces “The Scourge,” while “The Verge” aims to streamline block verification. Simultaneously, “The Purge” strives to simplify the protocol, and “The Splurge” encompasses all other essential aspects. In an insightful thread on X, Vitalik endorses single-slot finality (SSF) as the optimal solution for addressing current weaknesses in Ethereum’s Proof of Stake design. He commends the progress made on Layer 2 networks and the implementation of Verkle trees. Highlighting the significance of economic decentralization, Vitalik reorients “The Scourge” priority to combat centralization in two key “theatres:” MEV and liquid stake pooling. Concerns have arisen with the growth of Ethereum staking service Lido, underscoring the need to address economic centralization since Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake consensus. While maintaining consistency with last year’s outline, the core priorities of the Ethereum ecosystem undergo minor adjustments. Vitalik refrains from providing a specific timeline for these changes but arranges them based on their preferences. Stay tuned as Ethereum continues its journey towards a more advanced and efficient blockchain landscape. Source: theblock.co

In the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrencies, 2023 witnessed the rise of two formidable players, Solana and Avalanche, as they claimed the throne with astounding year-to-date (YTD) price growth of 620% and 290%, respectively. AltIndex, delving into the performance of the top 10 coins by market capitalization, unveiled these stellar winners who outshone their counterparts between January 1 and December 21.   Solana’s Soaring Success 620% Surge and Market Cap Triumph: Solana (SOL) emerged as the unequivocal champion, experiencing an unprecedented 620% surge in its price within the stated timeframe. Starting the year at $12.12, SOL skyrocketed to $87.3 by December 21, surpassing Bitcoin in percentage growth. The rapid ascent continued, reaching $113 within a week, marking an impressive 910% increase over the past 12 months. Market Cap Marvel: This surge propelled Solana’s market cap from $4.3 billion in January to almost $37 billion by December 21. The momentum persisted, with the market cap reaching a remarkable $48.46 billion.   Avalanche’s Astounding Ascent 290% Growth and Market Capitalization Surge: Avalanche (AVAX) secured the second spot with an impressive 290% price growth, leaping from $11.7 to $45.7 by December 21. Despite a minor dip to $44, AVAX recorded a substantial 276% increase over the past 12 months. The market capitalization witnessed a remarkable boost, surging by $13 billion to reach $16 billion.   Other Cryptocurrency Highlights Bitcoin’s Resurgence: Bitcoin (BTC) staged a noteworthy comeback, ascending from around $17,400 in January to $42,730. Boasting a current market capitalization of $836.28 billion, Bitcoin doubled in value, drawing considerable attention from mainstream investors. Cardano (ADA) and Ethereum (ETH): Cardano and Ethereum claimed spots in the top five performers with 140% and 85% price increases until December 21. ADA saw a 129% increase to $0.6 by December 27, while ETH recorded an 85% surge to $2,247. Source: cryptonews.com

In a notable departure from the broader cryptocurrency market, Binance Coin (BNB) experienced an impressive 11% surge on December 26, marking its highest level in six months. This surge, driven by increased deposits and activity on the BNB Chain, prompts questions about the sustainability of this newfound momentum. While the initial struggle to breach the $300 resistance was evident, the rally successfully closed the market capitalization gap created by Solana’s remarkable gains. Formerly holding the third-largest position among cryptocurrencies (excluding stablecoins), BNB now faces the challenge of maintaining a market cap exceeding $46 billion to regain its former spot. Despite the promising aspects of BSC Chain and Solana, offering fast and cost-effective blockchains without exclusive reliance on layer-2 scaling solutions, BNB faces selling pressure due to ownership concentration among Binance’s founders and team. Concerns about transparency in the initial distribution of BNB tokens and alterations to the token burn mechanism over time have impacted investor trust. Reduced trading fees influence the value of the BNB token, as well as exclusive launchpad offers from Binance. Despite initial concerns following legal challenges Binance‘s founder, CZ, faced, recent engagements with regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, have eased regulatory risks. Analyzing the performance of BNB against competing chains, particularly in decentralized applications (DApps) on the BNB Smart Chain, provides insights into the demand for the BNB token. The BSC Chain currently holds $3.6 billion in total value locked (TVL), indicating its significance but falling short of Ethereum’s dominance. Concerns arise when comparing BSC Chain’s growth in the number of addresses engaging with DApps over 30 days to Ethereum’s. While Ethereum experienced a 12% increase, BSC Chain’s 7% growth is relatively lower. This prompts questions about the recent BNB price surge and its correlation with increased activity on the BSC Chain. In summary, as BNB strives to break the $300 resistance, sustaining market cap growth amid ownership concentration challenges and competition from other blockchains remains a crucial focus for traders and investors.